Contributed by Bryce Ward Each year it seems more and more people are having conversations with a speaker. “Hey Alexa, what’s the weather like?” “OK Google, play Bob Marley radio.” The list goes on. When smart speakers first arrived, they seemed like a novelty item, a fun gift for loved ones, but each year smart speaker sales continue to climb and more and more questions are being directed towards an inanimate speaker. Studies predict that 50% of American households will have a smart speaker by the end of 2020[1] – this is an eyebrow-raising statistic considering that smart speakers have…

Contributed by Bryce Ward Earth Day 2019 has come and gone, but that doesn’t mean we should slip back into our ecologically careless ways. In reality, every day should be Earth Day, and businesses play an especially important role in minimizing our footprint. We spend about one-third of our lives at work, meaning the way we interact with the environment while at work (either directly or indirectly) constitutes a considerable portion of our environmental footprint. Due to the often communal nature of working, offices are an effective way to implement green initiatives and minimize our footprint. So, in celebration of…

Contributed by Bryce Ward When trying to better understand the nature of advertising, it helps to refer to its Latin origin. “Advertise” can be traced back to the Latin verb, advertere, meaning literally “to turn toward.” Simply put, then, the goal of advertising is to “turn heads,” specifically in the direction of your product or service. And it isn’t enough to have people only glance your way either – the goal of advertising is not only to have them turn their heads but to have them walk in your direction, also. In order to accomplish this, you have to understand…

Contributed by Bryce Ward In 1956 Wendell R. Smith published a groundbreaking article on marketing strategies called “Product Differentiation and Market Segmentation as Alternative Marketing Strategies.” The title is intimidating, but the content is much easier to grasp, and Smith’s ideas are becoming increasingly relevant in our current marketing landscape. Smith wrote his article in a time when mass production was dominating the economy – Henry Ford had introduced the first moving assembly line just 43 years before – and business owners struggled to differentiate themselves from competition (a struggle that still exists today). Their solution, which was far from…

Contributed by Bryce Ward It’s no secret: American love coffee. Coffee not only helps us shake the morning glaze out of our eyes, it helps us stay productive throughout the day even when we start becoming mentally and/or physically fatigued. Whether you’re a CEO or an intern, the next great novelist or a blog writer, coffee can help you bump up your productivity to the next level. But is it the only way? Medical experts agree that a reasonable amount of caffeine can be beneficial not just for your mental alertness but even for your overall health. However, you can…